When you sit around and talk Oklahoma football with your friends and family what are the stories you love to rehash. You know the one you've told so many times that the people who weren't actually there with you can recite the story word for word. Everyone has one; they're the most memorable moments to use. The times when our jaws dropped and our hearts pounded. When what seemed impossible suddenly became possible.
Most of us have more than one. I suddenly realized while thinking up this post that my most memorable moments were all pretty much blowouts. Not that I don't like the, "edge of my seat/give me grey hair early" nail biters. It's just that I've never enjoyed had more fun at a college football game than I did at the top three here on my list. So here we go - my top five most memorable Oklahoma football moments. Let us hear about yours in the comments section.
# 5 October 15, 1988 - Oklahoma 70, Kansas State 24
This was my indoctrination into Memorial Stadium. I had spent the first 14 years of my life watching the games on television but after attending this game I would never be the same. Oklahoma clobbered Kansas State that day, racking up over 800 yards of offense. They scored five touchdowns in the first quarter alone and then just coasted from there.
#4 November 8, 2003 - Oklahoma 77, Texas A&M 0
Oklahoma had been ranked #1 for ten consecutive weeks at this point and fresh off a 52-9 thumping of Oklahoma State the week earlier many people (including myself) thought that this could be a trap game for OU. Turns out it was a cage of death for A&M. Oklahoma scored 49 points in the first half, 28 in the third quarter and for the first (and only time that I can remember) I saw what was equivalent to the college football mercy rule, a running clock in the fourth quarter.
#3 November 1, 2003 - Oklahoma 52, Oklahoma State 9
What get's me the most was the arrogance of Les Miles going into this game. He had demanded that OU pay attention to Oklahoma State and start treating them like a big time rivalry. My wife and I were able to swap seats with a friend of ours who couldn't attend the game and we sat behind the O-State bench about seven rows up. Before the game Miles had said something along the lines of, "On Saturday the best team in the country and a really good team are going to play each other. After the game we'll know which one's which." From the onset of the game the entire lower east side of the stadium chanted, "Which one's which?" for Miles and the Pokes to hear as they were being dominated.
#2 November 22, 2008 - Oklahoma 65, Texas Tech 21
This is the game that Longhorn fans tried to erase from history. Texas Tech was #2 in the country and Oklahoma was #5. Two weeks earlier the Red Raiders had beaten Texas putting them in the driver's seat for the south division. Bob Stoops actually called out the Sooner crowd before the game and we responded in a big way and so did the Sooners. I don't think I ever heard a more vocal crowd before at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium than I did that night.
#1 October 7, 2000 - Oklahoma 63, Texas 14
I can honestly tell you that I've never had more fun at a college football game than I did at this one. The 2003 season pretty much let of relive the moment but coming off the John Blake years and then seeing Oklahoma lose an early lead in 1999 made this game all the more special. It was righteous vindication for all of those years of Texas oppression. As luck would have it, my wife and I scored 50-yardline seats for this game. The guy behind me was a Longhorn and he kept saying all the way through the first half, "You gotta play four quarters. I don't know why you Sooners are so excited because you gotta play four quarters." Finally, after hearing it for about the thirtieth time, I turned around just before halftime and told him, "We're so excited because at this rate the final score is going to be 84-14 if we play all four quarters." I got an ovation from the Sooner fans in the area and that guy along with 99% of the Texas fans that day left during the half.